Saved For a Rainy Day
by nerdfightersunshine
Summary: Lucy is enjoying her solitude until an unexpected visitor changes everything. Written for leoslady4ever. Rating for future chapters.


_Forgive me, this has not been edited. I will add more but it will be a bit as I have other fics to work on right now. This is dedicated to the amazing, phenomenal, loving **leoslady4ever**. I love you and can never thank you enough for all you have done._

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The rain slammed against Lucy's window. She pulled the blanket around her tighter and let out a sigh. These days were her favorite, wrapped up in a blanket on her couch reading a good book and not having to feel badly about not being outside. She snuggled into her blanket a little deeper as someone knocked on her door. Lucy stared at the door for a moment. Her team never knocked and Levy was on a mission. Her rent wasn't due. Skeptically, she peered out of the door to see a familiar pattern of black, white and purple. Even more confused than she was originally, Lucy opened the door. "Bickslow?"

His helmeted face looked up from the ground and he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, hey cosplayer. What are you doing here?"

"I happen to live here." She crossed her arms and leaned into the door frame. "What are you doing here?"

While he struggled to find the right words she studied his appearance. His clothes were drenched to his skin and she could see the water running down his skin. It wasn't until she looked at his hands that she realized they were shaking. She ran to the bathroom and re-emerged with a few towels, only to see him walking towards the stairs. "Bickslow!" His head spun around.

"Sorry cosplayer, I didn't mean to bug you."

"Get your butt in here before you catch a cold." She threw a towel at his face, his hand flying up just to catch it in time. Once she shut the door behind him, she gave him the other towels. "I'll be right back."

With that she went and rummaged through her drawers. When she returned to him, she handed him a shirt and pajama pants. "These are Grays. Considering how much he loses his clothes, he always keeps extras here. " Bickslow tilted his head, studying her. "Not what I meant!" Lucy's face turned red. "My team has a tendency to crash at my place a lot. Anyways, I figured his clothes would fit you better than Natsu's since you know, you're..." She raised her hand high above her head, which was still nowhere near the top of his head. "Anyways, the bathroom is down that hall on the right." He looked down at his drenched clothes. "It's fine, it's only water."

"I can always take them off first." He tongue lolled out of his mouth. Lucy let out a chuckle and nodded to his tongue. "I can always take that off."

"Ouch! That's messed up cosplayer." She heard him walking down the hall. She turned toward the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Sure." His voice echoed from the hall.

"How would you like it?"

"Black is fine." She jumped when she heard his voice closer than before only to realize he was entering her kitchen. When Bickslow leaned against her counter, Lucy had to hold back a "woah." Gray's shirt was tight on Bickslow's larger frame, and since Gray was shorter, the pants sat low on his hips. She had to get out of there before she started to drool. Lucy took his soaked clothing and placed them in the washer. "Might as well have clean clothes." She smiled kindly, as she handed him his coffee. "Do you want anything else?"

Bickslow cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Nah. You don't have to do any of this."

She waved him over to the couch. "Well," she took a sip of her coffee and placed it on the table, "now we have time to discuss whatever you wanted to talk about, unless you usually show up at guild members doors for no reason."

She could see the wheels turning in his mind. Before he could put on his usual act, she held a hand out. "Hell cosplayer, flame brain neglects you that much that you want to snuggle me?"

"I'm never letting you live down that you just said snuggle." She let out a laugh. "And I'm not with Natsu, as you well know. No, I want your helmet."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"Because I want to be able to look you in the eye when I talk to you and you're full of it if you say it isn't soaking wet too."

"It's really for the best if I wear it." He turned his head away only to turn back when he felt her poke him in the side. It took all of his strength not to flinch back when she reached up and took his visor off. His eyes stayed toward the ground. "Bix, you're obviously not here to hurt me. Will you please look at me?"

It was the nickname that made his eyes meet hers and before he could turn away, she smiled. "Okay, so what's going on?"

"Uh nothing really. Not sure how exactly I ended up here."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, well you have to wait for your clothes to be clean so what would you like to do?" He shrugged casually. "Well," she said smiling and lifting her blanket tightly around her shoulders, "I was reading and I'm at a very intense moment so you can watch television or I can grab a book for you to read and we can get back to your avoidance tactics later." He smirked at the cover of the book now in her hands.

"What about you read that to me?" He would never tell her but he always kept an eye on her in the guild. Every time she had one of her books in her hands, her face lit up like sunshine. He was curious what made her smile that way.

She blushed. "Are you sure? You don't know any of the story."

He leaned back on the couch, resting his hands behind his head. "So tell me. Bet you even have an outfit to go with it." She stuck her tongue out at him, smiling when she realized just how much she seemed like the man in front of her.

"Alright!" She curled up under her blanket and sat down close enough for him to read over her shoulder. "Let me know if I go too fast." Soon, they were deep within a world of castles and crooked politics. They were in depth in a story about swordfighting and Bickslow couldn't help but smile. Of course out of every kind of book, she would pick a story with a bad ass main woman who didn't need to be rescued. He just wondered if she realized she was reading about herself.

Not long after, Bickslow heard her voice slowly tapering off. He slid the book from her fingers and leaned forward to set it on the table, only to feel her hands cling to his shirt. Within minutes, Lucy had curled up into his side and fell asleep as familiar hands twirled her hair around his fingers. It didn't take long before both mages were fast asleep, the rain a lullaby on the window behind them.

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TBC.


End file.
